My sister has been throwing clay, making mugs and bowls for years. My new kitchen cupboards are full of her creations. Check out what she just pulled out of the kiln. I love the big, bold colours and hand-carved designs.
Wouldn’t you love one for your morning java?
CJR
When supplies were hard to come by during the Great Depression, folks got creative with their cooking and baking. This cake has also been called War Cake and is notable for the ingredients it omits…namely eggs, butter and milk, since those were scarce or too expensive during the depression. Shortening was substituted for butter, water was substituted for milk, and baking powder was substituted for eggs.
The recipe I made was a little more generous with ingredients than the original but keeps to the spirit of the cake. It is described as “an old time favorite – heavy, moist and spicy.” (Sounds like a sleazy novel!)
Here’s the recipe:
Preheat the oven to 350F
In a large saucepan, simmer together for 10 minutes: 2 cups sugar, 2 cups strong coffee, 1/2 cup butter, 2 cups raisins and 1 apple peeled and grated.
Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.
Blend together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsps baking powder, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and 1 tsp each of allspice, cloves & nutmeg and stir into the cooled mixture in the saucepan.
Pour batter into a well-greased 13 x 9″ pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
HAR
We both received an email from Fitbit last week with our year end summary. Between the two of us we covered 3,476,978 steps or about 1500 miles since July! According to Fitbit, Canadians take more average total steps…what’s up with that?!
It’s been six months since we started wearing our Fitbits, so we thought it would be a good time to update you about our thoughts. We first blogged about them in November and have both been very consistent with wearing them. Here’s what we have learned:
If you have a desk job, you will hit about 5000 steps a day but not much more if you don’t take a walk. And it is easy to get lazy when it is dark, when the dog walker already tuckered out the canine.
Weekends are easy to hit the target.
You can hit 10,000 steps a day but not really raise your heart rate. Setting aside time for a brisk walk will not only get you steps but also challenge your heart.
The sleep information is pretty interesting. I’ve learned that I actually manage fine on less sleep than I always thought I needed.
HAR & CJR
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